SEC values Kentucky this March

SEC fans may not like DeMarcus Cousins and John Calipari now. Next month, though, how Kentucky performs in the NCAA Tournament will directly impact the financial bottom line for every SEC school. (The Associated Press)This column appeared Wednesday, Feb. 24, in The Birmingham News.

John Calipari's value to the SEC is about to be revealed.

Now, more than ever, SEC basketball needs Ken­tucky. Not just for exposure and pride. For dollars and cents, too.

When this year's NCAA Tournament checks are dis­tributed, the SEC's amount is projected to fall approximately $527,000 from last year -- the only major conference to see a dip.

Spare the tears for the SEC. It's not as if the conference will go broke, especially since ESPN now pays the SEC hand­somely.

Nonetheless, athletics departments get used to cer­tain lifestyles, and NCAA Tournament revenue has been the gift that keeps on giving. The SEC's 1-3 record in last year's tournament, coupled with possibly only three or four bids this season, means the SEC could experience re­duced paychecks for a while.

A conference's annual bas­ketball share from the NCAA is based on the number of teams in the tournament and how they fare over a rolling six-year period. One unit is awarded for each tournament game in which a team participates, ex­cept the championship game.

Each unit was worth $206,020 in 2008-09. This year's unit value isn't set yet. It's usually an 8 percent an­nual increase, meaning the figure should be approxi­mately $222,502.

This year, the SEC replaces 12 units from 2003 with only four from 2009. That places the SEC at 68 units from 2004 to 2009 worth about $15.1 mil­lion, dropping it behind the Big Ten into fifth among all conferences.

Next year, the SEC loses 13 units from 2004. That will leave it with 55 units plus this year's amount. Say Kentucky goes to the Final Four in March, Vanderbilt reaches the Sweet 16, Tennessee advances to the second round, and Flor­ida loses in the first round.

That would be 11 units, put­ting the SEC's total at 66 -- a decrease of 10 units within two years. Eleven units are considered mediocre to poor for BCS leagues. The SEC aver­aged 12.7 units per season from 1998 to 2008.

Now imagine if Kentucky, a likely No. 1 seed, doesn't hold up its end of the bargain.

The SEC could have single-­digit units in consecutive years that wouldn't com­pletely disappear from its rolling number until 2016. The last BCS conference to do that was the Pac-10, with four in 2004 and nine in 2005, and it's been trying to recover NCAA basketball revenue ever since.

John Wall, DeMarcus Cous­ins and Eric Bledsoe may be one-and-done after Calipari's first year at Kentucky.

If they go three-and-done in the NCAA Tournament, the SEC will have dug itself a hole that can't instantly be cor­rected.